Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (27 page)

“So, ok…are you going to tell me what’s going on with you and Piper now?”

Judd’s voice breaks through my thoughts which were quickly steering off the road way past the damn gutter and into the bushes. I snicker, hanging my head down at his question.

“I’m curious, too.” Jake sidles up to my other side.

I toss my head back, laughing with my mouth agape and amusement racing through my veins.
They’re not gonna let this go.

“Guys, guys…” My grin deepens just before I dramatically lose all emotion from my face to put off an air of annoyance that I’m not feeling what so ever. I’m actually thrilled as hell that anyone would put Piper and I in the same sentence that does not include the words pissed off, hate, castration or I think she hopes you die. “Are we a bunch of girls here?” I look back and forth from Judd to Jake, holding a stern glare. “Should I go get a carton of ice cream and three spoons? We can go sit on Piper’s bed and gush about our love lives.”

Jake spits out a laugh. “I’m game. I like it over pumpkin pie. Does that work?”

I keep my expression serious, but quickly swing my eyes to Judd, holding back my laughter at Jake’s response.
Smartass. That’s my job.

“Ooooo, that sounds good. I hear they have peach cobbler, too.” Judd glances around me at Jake, then back at me with his ridiculously pathetic excuse for a dimple digging into his cheek as he tries to pester back. “What kind of ice cream are you thinking?” he asks his brother.

I can’t even hold it back anymore; the corners of my mouth rise into a huge smirk and what I really want to do is wave my hands and yell out ‘Enough with the jokes! Don’t even think your asses can’t keep up!’, but I go for subtle. After all, they learned from the best.

“Oh, so you guys think you can one up me, do ya?”

Judd and Jake laugh. “Seriously man…what kind of ice cream are we talking about?” Jake returns, his tone completely free of any humor as he leans his head over my shoulder.

Judd chuckles and I look over, my eyes still and vacant with my mouth now bent into a frown.

“Ha…ha. Let’s see who’s laughing later.”

Judd’s face changes and he straightens up his posture. “Ok, in all seriousness. What went on with you two last night?”

“Please tell me you guys weren’t getting it on with me in the same room with you? I mean it was bad enough that I had nightmares over the noises that I heard from them.” Jake nudges his thumb in Judd’s direction.

“We were not that loud!” Judd starts to raise his voice with a defensive tone, but quickly clips it off and looks back at me. “Did you guys really…”

“Ok, ok!” I put my hands out to my sides in an effort to stop all the ramblings of sex and who did who last night. “You…” I raise my brows and nudge my head in Judd’s direction. “…need to face reality and admit that you two have a serious problem.” Judd’s face falls into a sarcastic glare as I go on. “Ya’ll are going to have some stiff charges filed on you some day for noise disturbances if you don’t get it under control.”

“I do not…” Judd starts, but I hold my hand up to stop him, before going on.

“Save it…we’ve heard it.” I chuckle, unable to hold back the storm of laughter that is brewing in my stomach. “And last of all, if I was…shaking boots in the living room last night, don’t you think you all would know it.” I smirk back and forth at them, then shake my head at Judd. “You’re not the only one that can make a girl scream dude. Only difference is, with me, they are going to be yelling for more….not…” I kick my tone up to a whiney sensual whisper and move a little closer to Judd’s shoulder so I don’t get an audience. Jake moves his head towards me, listening in. “’Oh, Judd, wait…not there…oh no, not there either. Wait, go a little slower. Wait, not yet, not yet. Ahhhh, is it over already?’!”

Jake and I crack up, moving away from each other as Judd shakes his head with an eye roll and slight smile.

“Yeah, ok…keep dreaming, Evan.”

“Keep dreaming about what,” Alyssa says sweetly as she walks up.

We all bust up laughing and move forward to dish up our plates and take a seat.

Christmas dinner goes off without a hitch as we all sit around the table, with some of us dispersed to the couch and the smaller kitchen table, ready to cram our faces with more food than our eyes can take in. I’m delighted when in the middle of the table I see the same casserole Grandma used to make with creamy browned marshmallows bubbling over the top, slivers of pecans sinking into the gooey goodness and a hint of rust tented sweet potatoes oozing over the sides. I dig in, of course filling a good portion of my plate with a sloppy mess of potatoes. Sitting between Jake and Grandpa, another wave of pleasure takes hold as Piper takes a seat across from me. Her supposed boyfriend, that obviously doesn’t know much about her, sits clear in the other room with Hayden, and Jessie, which showed up right as we were all filling up our plates.

A couple hours later and after a few interesting conversations over dinner and dessert, mainly from Grandpa talking about the cabins and the property, we all gather in the living room with Judd and I casually huddled near the fireplace. The logs crackle and pop with an orange and red glow as well as slowly filling the house back up with a crisp pine fragrance the longer the food is put away.

“I really wish you’d come.” I look over at Judd as he presses his cell to his ear. “Yeah, but we are all still here and probably will hang out all night. You’d make it here by dinner and could warm up a plate.”

“Tristan?” I mouth, barely letting a breath out over my lips with the word.

Judd nods. “Ok, that’s fine, but can I put you on speaker so everyone can say hey. A couple of people asked about you,” he pauses as I make out Tristan’s muffled voice at the other side of the line.

“Ahhh, well Jessie, Evan, Abby…everyone basically.” Judd stumbles for a second. “Yeah. Why?”

He pauses, looking at me as if he’s getting irritated.

Tristan has kept himself MIA since the wreck, supposedly ashamed of the injuries he sustained in the accident.

“Hey, is that Tristan?” Jake leans against the mantle beside me, looking as if he hasn’t a care in the world.

I spit out a chuckle at how different all three of them seem for being brothers. Here Judd is the worrier, always trying to please everyone, yet carrying a bit of Tristan’s stubbornness when it comes to conflict. Jake is the cool and collected one with a heart of gold and then there is Tristan, a bomb waiting to explode.

“Yeah, it is.” I answer as Judd pulls the phone away from his ear to lay it on the mantle.

“Hey guys, Tristan can’t make it, but he wanted to say Merry Christmas,” Judd hollers out, getting everyone’s attention as all eyes turn towards us and several bodies move towards the fireplace.

“I did not want to say Merry Christmas, you jackass.” Tristan’s annoyance comes out loud and clear through the phone, but Judd doesn’t say a word, remaining unaffected. I crack up, tossing my chin forward. “You too, Evan. I hear you laughing. Ha Ha!”

“Hey, Tristan,” I manage out through my laughter. “How’s it going?”

“Not too bad…just living it up.”

“Merry Christmas, Tristan,” a chorus of voices yell out, Jessie’s screechy tone thundering over them all. “Merry Christmas,” a couple more calls stagger in.

“Yeah, yeah, same to you,” Tristan says, his voice never changing pitches.

I look at Judd, getting the idea that Tristan would rather be doing anything other than being on a party line with a bunch of happy-go-lucky people ringing in the holidays. I think he’s satisfied to just wallow in his grief and throw his own pity party this year, but with good reason. It hasn’t been a big year to celebrate for him.

A couple of more questions come across from everyone with a few requests for him to haul his ass five hours out of his way for a plate of food and a short visit before he’d have to head back.
No thank you;
that is exactly the answer they all get, but with much more colorful wording.

“I don’t believe I hear Abby. Didn’t you say she is there, Judd?” His voice comes out lively and bordering on the desire to annoy the piss out of someone, anyone, especially Abby, who he knows will rise to the occasion.

All of our eyes move to Abby as her mouth drops open and her eyes widen. Her and Tristan’s dealings this past summer were about as callous as mine and Piper’s had been. There wasn’t a whole lot of days that I didn’t hear him spouting out some sarcastic, derogatory comment her way with her responding with a quick one finger salute or some insult regarding his manhood. It was actually quite entertaining.

Judd stares at Abby as she folds her arms across her chest and squints as if she is already getting ready for an obnoxious comment, but neither say a word.
Geez, I need to hang with Tristan more; he’s good people.

“Oh wait, wait…I bet she’s out skinny dipping. That was her thing this summer, right?!”

I barely catch a quiet snicker over the phone, but I don’t miss Abby’s eyes going wide as she drops her hands to her sides and snaps her head to the side to look at her mom.

“Abby!” her mom snaps in a disapproving tone with a hint of humor.

Everyone else roars in laughter with Alyssa bent at the waist between her mom and sister.

Abby swings her eyes back to the mantle as if Tristan is standing right there, and she has an arsenal of daggers aimed right at him.

“Oh shut up, Tristan. You never put on clothes the whole time you were out here.”

Tristan’s chuckles turn to a full on laugh as the rest of us crack up, except Grandpa which is shaking his head, and Abby’s mom who looks disapproving.

“Oh Abby.” Her mom shakes her head as Abby looks as though she is desperately trying to find the words to defend what now sounds like a summer orgy at the lake.

To think, I wasn’t going to come over here today. Hell, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.

“Mom, it wasn’t like that. It’s not like we were skinny dipping with the guys. It was just us girls when we did.”

Alyssa slaps her leg, holding one arm around her stomach at her mom and sister’s reaction.

“Alyssa, were you doing this too?”

She straightens up fast, giving her mom a profound look with her eyes wide.

“No way, Mom…that was all them.” She points towards Abby, Skylar, Piper and Jessie. Only face that doesn’t look downright proud of their moonlight naked swim is Piper, which has a pink glow to her face now.

My chest vibrates and stomach rolls with laughter the more I watch the panic and annoyance across Abby’s face.

“Abby, anyone ever tell you that that little birthmark you have on the upper inside of your left thigh looks just like a butterfly?” Tristan chuckles, one-hundred percent hell bent on riling her now.

Abby’s face goes pale as she looks around. All laughter stops with everyone’s eyes on her, expectant. For a minute, the same question that is probably on everyone’s mind rises into my head, but I clip it off; I don’t think for a second that Abby would have given it up to Mr. Manslut himself…too cliché. I’m sure Tristan has a bit of a peeping tom lurking under the surface of that cool exterior.

“Ab…bee…” her mom whisper-yells in a manner that has drifted from slightly disapproving to a what-the-hell tone in a matter of seconds.

Abby looks stunned, pissed, and about to reach through the phone to wring Tristan’s ever loving neck. I don’t think she gives a damn what sort of injuries he’s nursing right now; she wants to murder him. If I were Tristan, I would keep my running shoes handy.

“Ok, Tristan…that’s enough,” Judd pipes up quietly, grabbing the phone as Tristan roars with laughter on the other end of the line.

“Get it girl,” Jessie says in a pleasing tone.

“Ok, wellll…ummmm…” Hayden leans in towards Abby as everyone seems to click all the pieces into place and say what’s on their mind.
Did Abby and Tristan get it on out here? No way.

“Tristan, did you really…” Judd starts, taking Tristan off speaker phone and shoving the phone to his ear.

“Well this is fun,” Jake joins in with a calm, not so amused voice. “Here I thought she might be the only one that was immune to his charm.”

I quickly glance at Skylar on his words with my eyebrows raised. She sheepishly rolls her eyes.
Yeah, she’s guilty. Seriously, is there not one girl that turned him down?
On that note, I snap my attention to Piper;
Oh hell no, she better not have.
She catches my glare, shaking her head slowly as if she can read my mind, and is soundlessly saying, ‘Are you an idiot, of course not’.
Well, at least that’s what I’m going to go with anyways.

“Evan, just what the hell gets into you kids when you all get together?” Grandpa leans to my side, seeming a little stunned.

I can’t help but want to egg it on though, “Oh, come on Grandpa. You remember what it was like to be our age once? Everything’s more fun when you’re naked right?” I keep my eyes on Piper as I speak to him, but she just rolls her eyes with a slight smile that tells me she may be up for my subtle invite.
Oh yeah.

The fun dies down after a good round of questions thrown at Abby, and her shouting towards the phone until Judd clips the conversation to give a public apology for Tristan as well as letting everyone know that he has not been himself. I literally want to laugh my ass off at that one. Anyone and everyone that is familiar with his constant desire to get under a person’s skin, can tell that this is the Tristan we all know and love; he always seems to want to ruffle Abby’s feathers in particular. He has since the moment he met her.

Piper excuses herself to the kitchen, busying herself with cutting pie and dishing pieces into bowls with a huge dollop of fluffy whipped cream plopped on top of each one. As soon as she slips her cream covered finger into her mouth, my mind is seeing it in a whole other light. My body is ready to get the hell out of dodge with her hand in mine. That simple act of plopping that finger in her mouth is way too familiar. Not to mention, the way she stares me down as she pulls her fingers slowly out from between her lips with a silent smack, it makes me think that she remembers too.